Safia Elhillo

twitter: @mafiasafia

She is the author of the collection, The January Children, a deeply personal collection of poems that describe the experience of navigating the postcolonial world as a stranger in one’s own land. Sudanese by the way of Washington, DC, and a Cave Canem fellow, she received am MFA in poetry at the New School. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, co-winner of the 2015 Brunel University African Poetry Prize, and winner of the 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. Her work has appeared in The Lifted Brow, Smartish Pace, The Offing, and The Collagist, among others. With Fatimah Asghar, she is co-editor of the anthology “Halal If You Hear Me.”

website: safia-mafia.com

instagram: safiamafia

facebook: safiamafia

photo credit: Dexter R. Jones


Jamal Parker

twitter: @BlckBoyFly_

A writer, performer, and teaching artist currently attending Temple University. He’s a two time international poetry slam champion, having won Brave New Voices and the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. He’s the current artistic director of Babel Poetr Collective, a Watering Hole Fellow, and an International Brave New Voices and CUPSI Slam Champion. He majors in African-American Studies with a minor in English. Through poetry, he aims to shift the lens in how society views the black body, with elements of activism, political satire, and escapism influencing his artwork. His work has appeared in Teenage WastelandWusgood Magazine, Dryland Lit Press, and Cunjuh Magazine. He enjoys scrolling through Black Twitter and watching superhero films.

Website: jamalparkerpoetry.com

instagram: jamal.parkerr


Natalie Eilbert

twitter: @natalie_eilbert

Author of Swan Feast and Indictus, which was the winner of Noemi Press’s 2016 Poetry Contest. She is also the founding editor of The Atlas Review. She is the recipient of the 2016 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she is serving a one-year academic appointment. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Offing, The Kenyon Review, Foundry Journal, and elsewhere.

website: natalie-eilbert.com

photo credit: Emily Raw